Using Court Records In Your Research
Source: Genealogy.com
All about court
records
Court records cover a wide range of topics, including land
ownership, adoption, taxes, and naturalization. This topic
tells you how court records may help you in your research. To
get more information about what types of court records exist
and where to find them, select any of the topics listed at
the end of this description. Since court records cover such a
wide variety of subjects, they can help you in many different
ways. For example, they may help you locate ancestors'
residences, determine occupations, find financial
information, establish citizenship status, or clarify
relationships between people. It all depends on the type of
court records that your ancestors" names appear in.
Court records probably are not the first place that you will
want to look for genealogical information because there are
so many other ways that you can locate the information that
you need. However, if you find that your other resources have
failed you, court records may be valuable in your research.
Types of court records
There are four types of court records that are most likely to
have information relevant to your genealogical research. Each
of these records is described below.
Adoption Records:
An adoption record contains the names of the adopted child or
children, the natural parents, and the adopting parents.
Although these records have good information, they can only
be opened by a court order for "good cause shown,"
and often only by the adopted individual. Genealogical
research information is usually not "good cause."
Divorce Records:
A divorce record normally lists the names of both spouses,
the names of their children (if any), the date and location
of the marriage, the date of birth of both spouses, the
country or state of these births, and the grounds for the
divorce. To get a copy of a divorce record, write to the
court in the county where the divorce was granted. Include
the names of the two spouses, the approximate year of the
divorce, and your relationship to the couple, in your
letter. Some state vital records offices also have
divorce records.
Naturalization Records:
Each record usually contains a petition for citizenship with
the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), a petition
with the local court clerk, and a Certificate of
Naturalization. The National Archives has many of these
records. For information about the National Archives, see the
topic The
National Archives and regional centers. You can also get naturalization records
from the INS. Write to your local INS office and ask for a
copy of the form G-641, Application for Verification of
Information from Immigration and Naturalization Service
Records. Records of early naturalizations will be in the
records of the courts where the naturalization took place.
Probate records:
Probate records can be an excellent source of genealogical
information. Probate records are created at the time of an
individual's death, and are meant to establish the legality
of a will. In probate records, you can find the will, which
will tell you what types of assets the deceased had. They
also often list the names of survivors, and their
relationship to the deceased. If one of your ancestors was
involved in a court case, you may also find the following
types of records:
Case Files: A case file contains evidence, testimony,
correspondence, depositions, and other documents relevant to
the case. Finding a case file normally requires obtaining a
case file number from the index, docket, or minutes of the
case.
Dockets: After a judiciary agrees to hear a case, it is
placed on the court docket until the time of the trial.
Typically, an entry on the docket includes the plaintiff and
defendant for each case, the date of the case's hearing, the
case's file number, and the titles of all documents relevant
to the case. Dockets are normally held in chronological order
and are typically divided by category, such as criminal,
civil, or equity.
Minutes: The minutes, compiled by the clerk of the court,
briefly record all actions of the court on a single day.
Particularly useful when indexes and dockets cannot be
located, they usually list the plaintiff and defendant in the
case and state the action taken. They are normally organized
chronologically but are rarely indexed.
Orders: The recorded orders of the court can be found in
almost every jurisdiction. They generally present a concise
summary of the case and state the judgment to be carried out.
It is worth noting that appointments of guardians, memorials,
naturalizations, and re-recordings of deeds, especially
before this century, are often recorded in the order books.
In addition, a variety of other administrative data from the
locality was also recorded frequently.
How to find court records
To obtain court records, you would want to look in the
following places:
State and Local Courts: In the United States, every state has
a system of local courts, as well as a state supreme court.
In general, the local courts are the best place to begin a
genealogical search. To get information about your ancestors
in court records, you should either write with a specific
question to the court clerk in the area where your ancestors
lived, or visit the court in person.
Federal Courts: In addition to the state and local courts,
there are currently 89 federal district courts, U.S. circuit
courts of appeals, and, the United States Supreme Court.
Federal courts deal with cases where federal laws or the
provisions of the Constitution have been violated. Most of
these are criminal cases. Again, to get information about
your ancestors in court records, you should either write with
a specific question to the court clerk in the area where your
ancestors lived, or visit the court in person.